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Forum ~ Polls ~ What counts more, sound or melody? |
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|  What counts more, sound or melody? [POLLS] | |
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Zepsi
  Artist
Topics: 53
Replies: 1132
Registered: 30.Jan.03 |
'It depends' is something I agree very much with, as there are many different reasons to make a piece of music. However, the melody of a piece is just one part of it, so is the sound. What I think is most important though, is the structure of a piece. How it evolves over time, from it starts until it ends. A piece with a good sound to it and one good melody can seldom be very interesting if it's too predictable (not speaking about dance music genres though, where too much variation may be distracting). That's my opinion at least. The types of music I appreciate the most are those who are structured much like a story: they start out at one place and end up elsewhere, after having gone through different changes (including both smooth and unpredictable ones). So I like music that plays with my imagination, and go for option 3: structure  |
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Cooth
 Member
Topics: 59
Replies: 3588
Registered: 02.Jan.03 |
If I am to choose between 2 songs: good soundquality but boring melodies, and good melodies and poor quality, I'll pick the second option for sure.
As long as the quality is not very bad (which would be the level when listening stops to be pleasure), It is not essential. I can listen to an old little radio that can provide just a shadow of quality no matter how good the recording is. I can find pleasure in that. But it's not really tempting for me to listen to poor, but well recorded/produced compositions on good speakers.
Although definitely good quality is important as well, although I think it would be easier to make a little sacrifice on (to a certain degree of course).
Youknowwhatahmean, nudge nudge, wink wink. |
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Nyocore
Member
Topics: 44
Replies: 431
Registered: 20.Jan.04 |
even with a great melody you can fuck it up g00d with wrong sounding stuff....sound is just as important as the melody....
Jezus mina waar is de cocaina |
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Randor
 Administrator
Topics: 559
Replies: 2947
Registered: 27.Dec.02 |
Cooth, I wouldn't consider this to be a pure soundquality poll. Rather what sort of sounds were used. Melody ight sound boring with one sound and cool with another  Quality is whole another cup of coffee. |
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slammin vinyl
Administrator
Topics: 302
Replies: 3248
Registered: 06.Mar.04 |
Randor wrote on 25 Apr. (12:16) :
Cooth, I wouldn't consider this to be a pure soundquality poll. Rather what sort of sounds were used. Melody ight sound boring with one sound and cool with another Quality is whole another cup of coffee. |
Or pint of beer for that matter! Everything sounds good after beer 
whats taters? |
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Cooth
Member
Topics: 59
Replies: 3588
Registered: 02.Jan.03 |
Randor wrote on 25 Apr. (12:16) :
Cooth, I wouldn't consider this to be a pure soundquality poll. Rather what sort of sounds were used. Melody ight sound boring with one sound and cool with another Quality is whole another cup of coffee. |
Well, in this case, it might be always arguable if a combination is good or bad. Unless we're talking about really bad sounding instruments. Unintentionally bad that is.
But if a composition is good we're in a far better situation. You can play the melody on a keyboard. You can make a cover. The composition can be found great, and you given a chance to record it in a real studio, with good musicians.
In case we are just talking about the very listening experience, okay, a good melody played by a horrible sound is not that enjoyable. But I think that's mostly due to technical things, like bad mixing, bad performance etc.
Youknowwhatahmean, nudge nudge, wink wink. |
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dfast
Artist
Topics: 10
Replies: 430
Registered: 07.Jan.03 |
if the melodies suck but the sound(quality) is nothing but top notch, i won't listen to it at all. but if the melodies do rock but the quality is what it is, i could easely listen to it if the melodies are nearly perfect for my taste. therefore i choose the melodies matter more than the sound.
/dfast |
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PPH
Member
Topics: 48
Replies: 843
Registered: 13.Jul.03 |
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It depends on the piece of music. You can focus on melody or in the arrangement (the way sounds interact with each other, be them synthesized or real instruments, it's the same: that's the arrangement), but what really matters is how you organize those elements. Like Zepsi said: the structure is very important. The thing is, when you're organizing your structure, you cound on the following tools: melodies (motives, themes, phrases), arrangement and other stuff such as dynamics, tempo, rythm, harmony, etc. The structure, therefore, is pretty much influenced by the melodies and the arrangement. The composition itself is the structure. What's best is to have good melodies and good arrangemet.
However, you can have only one of them. If you play a beautiful melody using just one instrument, that doesn't prevent the piece from being great. In a way, using only one instrument is an arrangement choice too. Besides, the way the instrument is played counts too. An example of this are, for example, Chopin's beautiful piano pieces. They're great, even though there's just a piano playing. Of course it's not jst about melody, it's also about Chopin's incredible ability with harmony. Harmony is a tool for organizing structure: so, there you are. Chopin was good at organizing structures. All great composes are. Structure is very important, and it's terribly neglected.
You can have a great arrangement, with little melodies. Take, for example, Stravinsky's "Right of Spring", with a bassoon playing in its higher register at the beginning and the furious strings playing dischordant chords. This piece has a great rythmic element too, though: structure strikes back.
An extreme example is Ravel's bolero. Hey, the guy repeated the same melody all the time! So, structure us crappy! No. The melody was great and the orchestration incredible, with an amazing crescendo. That's the perfect example that shows how structure is not only about organizing the different melody blocks, but about combining the different elements in a nice, coherent way that, at the same time, keeps the attention of the listener. Melody and the arrangement are the LEGO blocks. The composition is the castel. And in order for it to be a good castel, the structure, that is, the way melodies, arrangement and other elements combine must be good.
In general, what makes a conventional piece of music beautiful is the melodies, and in some genres, such as techno, what makes it interesting is the arrangement. But they must be used in a competent way.
"I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine"
-John Galt, "Atlas Shrugged", by Ayn Rand |
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DDspeed
Artist
Topics: 24
Replies: 4892
Registered: 07.Jun.03 |
Does somebody remember chip music? Does somebody rmember 3 channel music generated by sucking SID chip? The key of all chiptunes is the melody, no matter it has similar quality to MIDI from Nokia mobiles .
In my opinion this means something.
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Meltic
Artist
Topics: 5
Replies: 192
Registered: 01.Jan.03 |
DDspeed wrote on 27 Apr. (14:51) :
Does somebody remember chip music? Does somebody rmember 3 channel music generated by sucking SID chip? The key of all chiptunes is the melody, no matter it has similar quality to MIDI from Nokia mobiles .
In my opinion this means something.
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amen
I think it's all about the feeling. There are all these "tools" you can use to attain this feeling. alot of them are already mentioned like melody, quality, structure, creativity etc etc, cause in the end it's all about what you feel for the outcome. So I would say everything. That's my opinion
"You don't get harmony when everybody sings the same note." -Doug Floyd |
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